Monday, July 30, 2012

The floor boards creaked loudly against the quite still air of the basement. The only light coming from the door above me cast vicious shadows of monsters and demons in every corner and dark crevice. I crept slowly further in.

Thump-thump. Startled, I let out an unctrolled soft cry. Something was down here with me, I felt it. Thump-thump. A drop of sweat ran down my forehead as my heart raced faster. THUMP-thump. I jumped as the sound came from behind me. From behind the wall. THUMP-THUMP! A light appeared between the cracks of the block. My eyes wide open, unblinking stared at the spot, hypnotized. THUMP-THUMP! It was all I could take. I threw my hands up in the air, screamed like crazy person and ran up the stairs and out of the house.

It wasn't until about a mile from my house, still running, that I realized I hired the cheapest contractor in the area to put up a wall in my basement and the dork walled himself in.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

I wanted to practice some panning shots and I thought what a better place than Grizzly River Run where the rafts come down the waterfall and make a big splash. There is a short path that leads down and around and ends near the water. I put on a long lens to help with the motion and stood up a level from the water where I knew I would not get wet.

Apparently the ride was stopped as nothing came down for about 10 minutes. A mom and her son rushed by me and got to the last bend in the path before coming out near the water. She stopped as her kid went on. She didn't want to get wet. With a totally straight face, her son yelled back to here, You won't get wet, I promise. So the mom headed down.

In the meantime I could here some riders around the top and got my camera ready. The raft came down, I pushed the shutter botton, saw the splash, heard the scream and one really wet mom ran past me yelling, You said I wouldn't get wet! Her son yelled back, You didn't get wet, you got SOAKED!

View on black or I'll soak you!

HSS

--------------------------------------------------------------------I got one shot with the kid in it (lower left) but the mom was WAY to fast.

I wanted to practice some panning shots and I thought what a better place than Grizzly River Run where the rafts come down the waterfall and make a big splash. There is a short path that leads down and around and ends near the water. I put on a long lens to help with the motion and stood up a level from the water where I knew I would not get wet.

Apparently the ride was stopped as nothing came down for about 10 minutes. A mom and her son rushed by me and got to the last bend in the path before coming out near the water. She stopped as her kid went on. She didn't want to get wet. With a totally straight face, her son yelled back to here, You won't get wet, I promise. So the mom headed down.

In the meantime I could here some riders around the top and got my camera ready. The raft came down, I pushed the shutter botton, saw the splash, heard the scream and one really wet mom ran past me yelling, You said I wouldn't get wet! Her son yelled back, You didn't get wet, you got SOAKED!

View on black or I'll soak you!

HSS

--------------------------------------------------------------------I got one shot with the kid in it (lower left) but the mom was WAY to fast.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Insired by the 30's and 40's America, Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure is just amazing! The details are perfect all the way down to the window displays. Even walking into Oswald's Gas there is a radio playing songs and radio shows from the era that they recreated.

View on black. Actually, if I were you I'd run. I did just buy a bunch of face powder for 25 cents and if you've ever read any of my commentary, you know my sense of humor and I am about to blow it all over you.

Apparently, I missed my exit to Disneyland. This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't driven this route three or four times a week. To make matters worse, once I did exit at the next off ramp, I got lost. This wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't lost in the city I grew up in. To make matters worse, as I originally passed the correct off ramp, I may of said 'don't worry, I grew up here and know this city like the back of my hand. In my defense, the back of my hand DOES have more wrinkles now than it used to.

View on black or the next time you use that fancy navigator of yours, the voice will be mine.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

I went on a quest to find 'Numbers' to shoot for the Our Daily Challenge today. I could not come up with anything. Frustrated, I decided to go throw myself down a Service Elevator Shaft in the Hollywood Tower Hotel. As I stood there at the front of the line scratchin' my butt, waiting to ride to my doom upon an elevator that was guaranteed to go haywire and smash me to oblivion on the basement floor, realization dawned on me. First, twenty people standing behind me just witnessed me scratchin' my butt, second, there were numbers right in front of me.

Monday, July 23, 2012

I may have lost Little Johnny. We went on this ride called Luigi's Flying Tires and you get to sit in this giant tire and air rushes from the ground and you float. I figured since it could float a giant tire, it might float Johnny. I asked him if he wanted to be Peter Pan, he said yes, so I pushed him over the side of the tire. He got about 30 or 40 feet up when I realized he wasn't coming down yet, so I pushed the large man who was sitting with us over the side too and told him to go get him. Johnny kept going up and the large man crashed to the ground at the entrance. He's gotta come down sometime though. Don't you think?

Love,Your Only Son (we may have to face the fact he floated to the moon)

Glad to hear you got the whole thing cleared up with the police and they let you out of jail. So sorry about the whole misunderstanding. On a brighter note, we're having a blast. Literally. Little Johnny was so cranky, I thought he might be constipated. I got him a Chili Cone Queso at the Cozy Cone Motel and dropped a bunch of laxitives in it to help him out. In hind sight, I may have given him too many. While we were at the Radiator Springs Curios shop he said he had to go. I dropped a dime on the floor and it rolled under a counter. It only took about 30 minutes to get it back but it was too late by that time. I barely made it out of the store before you know what it the fan. Little Johnny was taking away by ambulance and the hazmat team came and got his pants. I'll go and see if he is ok after I get off Maters Junkyard Jamboree.

Love,Your only son (I figured you might be too embarrassed to claim Little Johnny as a son anymore)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Little Johnny got arrested again by the Disney Police. He called me a booger so I hit him. When he hit me back, I fell to the ground crying and when the Disney Police came I told them I didn't know him. They hauled him away in handcuffs. Don't worry, I will go bust him out after I ride Radiator Racers. The lines long, it may be awhile.

Love,Your Only Son (Little Johnny may not make it out of Disney Prison. I hear it's pretty rough in there)

We finally made it to Radiator Springs. We were hungry after the long drive so we stopped at Fillmores for a quick snack. Unfortunately, Little Johnny stole an apple and got arrested by the Disney Police. Not to worry, I got him out. I had to tell them you were drunks and locked him in the closet all the time so they would pity him and let him go. It worked. You may have some visitors tonight, please tell them I was only joking.

Love,Your Only Son (I assume you are disowning Little Johnny after he stole the apple)

Never ask Tow Mater if he has enough gas. He'll crop dust you, stop at the Cozy Cone Motel and have a Chili Cone Queso and tell you he's full. Then after driving ten yards, coming to a rolling stop cause he can't go any farther, a little dome light will go on and he'll finally get it. In the mean time, you're rolling down all the windows gasping for fresh air.

Friday, July 13, 2012

I was in Toontown trying to get a shot for 'In The Car' when I felt a tug on the pant leg of my jeans. I looked down to find a wide eyed little kid looking up at me. "Whats that, he asked, pointing towards Goofy's Gas Station. So I told him it was Goofy's Gas Station. "Whats that, he said. I followed his finger and explained those were the Gas Pumps. "Whats that, he inquired again and once again I followed the pointing finger. Those are fish in the Gas Pumps. Oh, he says.

"Whats thAAaaaaa ... That was the last thing I heard from him before I lifted him up and tossed him over the hills that acted as the fence to Toontown.

Two seconds later I felt a tap on my shoulder and the words, Did you just toss my kid out the park, in a deep manly voice. Knowing my time was limited, I quickly snapped this shot, opened my mouth and said Whats That as he flung me over the same hills that acted as a fence to Toontown and yelled after me to go get him.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Down in the cool shade of Ornament Valley, you can beat the heat of the high desert with a leisurely drive through Radiator Springs.

Yeah Yeah, let me tell you how it really is. You stand in line for hours, your grumpy as heck, you finally get on the ride, it begins and your eyes get wider, it continues and your jaw drops, you finish the ride, you are flabbergasted by what just happened and jump up like a little school girl yelling LETS DO IT AGAIN! Then everyone in your party makes fun of you the rest of the day. Thats ok though, I was in the winning car all day long so THPPTTTTTT. :)

I wanted to take some shots of bubbles today for the 112 photo's in 2012 group but I couldn't find my bubble solution. I searched everywhere. In the cabinet, under the bed, my shoe (you never know) and could not find it anywhere. I swore I had bubble solution left over from the summer of '69.

Defeated, I headed out to the tall grass in the backyard with my camera to look for something else to shoot. I soon came across some bubbles floating around, just a few at first but becoming more and more rather quickly. I went on a quest to find the source.

After minutes of searching, I was hot and exhausted and at the end of my rope when I came across some bugs having a party in my yard. I spotted Heimlich the Caterpillar surrounded by bubbles, hundreds of bubbles. They seemed to be coming from behind him by the thousands but no one was back there. Thats when I realization hit me. Heimlich I yelled, Did you DRINK my Bubble Solution?!?! He made a face that spoke louder than words and I took my shot!

View on black or I'll send Heimlich the Lean Mean Bubble Machine to your house (yes it's cool to have all the bubbles but wait till they pop)

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Watching the Pixar Play Parade, I saw Crush from Finding Nemo come around the corner larger than life. Wanting a good shot of him, I called out in hopes he would look my way. Crush, Crush I hollered to no avail. Frustrated and excited to get a good shot, I climbed over the front row of parade watchers and ran out to the street. I looked down for only a second, I swear, to adjust my camera. When I finished, I looked through my view finder and all I saw was turtle, all two tons of him rolling towards me at the high speed of 3 miles an hour. Our eyes locked on each other and grew big as we realized we were gonna collide. I snapped my shot and three minutes later I was run over by a two ton parade turtle named Crush.

View on black or I will cook Nemo for dinner. (yeah, thats right, he was there too)

Sunday, July 1, 2012

I swear! It came Straight Out Of Camera looking like it was a Super Cross Processed, Cross Balanced, enhanced details, over saturated, HDR photo that was run through Photoshop, Nik's HDR Effex, Nik's Color and then Lightroom (just for that added little punch). Really!

Fine! I didn't do any cropping. Does it still count as SOOC?

View on black. For as much work as I didn't do on this sooc, you owe me!

Visit my other blogs for some great short stories

About

All photographs are by me unless otherwise stated. I use an HTC Droid Incredible and a Nikon D200. I am an amatuer...as you can tell by some of the images. :)

Our Daily Challenge - the new one

Our Daily Challenge - the new one is a Flickr Group. The object is to take a photo once the daily challenge is posted. It is really kind of cool. It makes you think about what you are going to photograph rather than just go out and shoot what you find. Anyone can join this group.

Our Daily Topic

Our Daily Topic is a Flickr group where you post a photo after the Topic has been posted. The main difference between Daily Topic and Daily Challenge is The Daily Topic photograph could have been taking in the past where as the Daily Challenge has to be taken AFTER the challenge post is posted. Anyone can join this group.